What happened after the Tottenham-Norwich FA Cup 5th round match today cannot happen in sports. Eric Dier, a Spurs player, charged into the away stands (Tottenham supporters) to confront a fan/group of fans. Per Spurs manager Jose Mourinho, Dier’s brother was being harassed and/or involved in an altercation with other fans, so he went to his defense.
Mourinho also said that while he understood Dier’s actions and that coming to the defense of a family member was something “that we probably [all] would do” that going into the stands is something “we professionals cannot do.” I cannot believe that I’m writing this, but Jose Mourinho is 100% correct.
Players cannot go into the stands. Full stop.
Fortunately, it appears that cooler heads prevailed and the stewards were able to get between everybody so that nothing really ugly happened. But the potential was there. Without security intervening, I bet punches would have been thrown. Somebody could have gotten seriously injured, either from a fight or from being trampled in a panic.
Anytime there is a player-fan incident, you think of the Malice at the Palace, where then Indiana Pacers player Ron Artest, now known as Metta World Peace, ignited a brawl by entering the stands to confront a fan who had thrown a drink at him. In soccer, you think of Eric Cantona karate-kicking a fan in the chest at Selhurst Park.
What’s wild is that in both cases the incidents made the players beloved with their home fans. That same thing seems to be happening today with Dier; Tottenham fans appear to be rallying around him. Tribalism is a heck of a drug. Personally, I’d prefer it if players from my team didn’t jump barriers to go be violent to fans, but that might just be me.
I’ve got questions about how things went down at Carrow Road. Was Dier close enough to the dispute his brother was having to hear what was being said? Why wasn’t the fracas broken up by stadium personnel before it escalated? Why wasn’t Dier stopped from going into the stands? Where were the rest of the Tottenham players while this was happening? It’s not uncommon for away teams to go applaud and thank the traveling fans after a match, win or lose. But usually, the entire team goes over there. Where was everybody else? Did nobody else notice what was happening?
All that aside, I’ve got a good bit of sympathy for Dier. Fans can lose themselves in the emotions of the game and do things they wouldn’t normally do. Also, a not insignificant number of sports fans just suck. You don’t need to look very hard to find examples of both types. I know I would find it hard to handle all the crap that fans incessantly throw at me in the stadium, in public, and on social media. I’m sure it takes its toll.
More importantly, if I saw a family member in a confrontation with somebody, you bet I’d be there in a heartbeat. It’s a natural reaction for most of us. But most of us aren’t professional athletes and don’t have the added responsibilities that come along with that.
So really, Dier was put into an impossible situation — he “had” to come to the defense of family, and to do that, he had to do something he “can’t” do. I doubt that calculus consciously occurred to him in the moment. He probably acted on instinct.
And while all of that informs his conduct and helps us understand his actions, it doesn’t excuse them. As Mourinho said, you can’t do what he did. Even though we can understand why he did it and might do the same, Dier has to face the consequences. The FA has to suspend him for a significant amount of time. My guess, without heavily researching the precedent, is that the ban will be at least a month, possibly for the remainder of the season. And since he went into the Tottenham fan section to confront a Spurs fan, there might be discipline from the club too, although that may end up just being a hefty fine.
Because family was involved today, I can’t help but to think of the incident with Granit Xhaka and Arsenal fans earlier this season. Xhaka was slow coming off the pitch in a match the Gunners were losing and got into with the supporters who were harassing him as he left the pitch. He didn’t go into the seats, but it was clear that he told at least one fan, maybe more, to f&%* off. Turns out, Xhaka had been the target of some particularly nasty abuse on social media from fans, including messages wishing death on his wife and newborn child. It pushed him to his limit and the abuse as he left the pitch that day made him snap. We place expectations on players, but at some point, we’ve got to place them on fans too, right? After all, professional athletes are human beings and deserve to be treated with decency and respect. And while we don’t know what was going on between Dier’s brother and other fans, the messages Xhaka received were way beyond the pale.
Not to sound too naive, but I hope everybody learns from this. I hope Dier grows and matures from it. I hope fans in general and the fans involved today in particular become less jerk-ish (although I’m not holding my breath on that one). I hope the FA finds a way to minimize the chances of something like this happening again and figures out a way to insulate and protect players from the nastier elements of fan behavior.
P.S. I’m going to get to non-soccer stuff at some point, I swear!
The Lukewarm Take 